Writer: Ashok Chaudhary
Translated to English: Lokendra Kumar
B.Tech E.C.E IET Lucknow
The history of India is full of struggles, there was a time
when there was no man on earth who could face pitamah(grandfather) Bhisma. Then
came the time that India got into the clutches of Mughal Shahi, Qutb Shahi,
Nizam Shahi and Adil Shahi, it seemed that this civilization would end, but
under the leadership of Chhatrapati Shivaji, Indians demonstrated such bravery
that there were only traces of Mughal emperor. But then, under the leadership
of East India Company, the British took over the whole of India, the rule of
the British spread so much that the Sun never set in their reign. They had
become the world's largest power, the British took away big business from the
Indians and took them in their hands and sold them to the landlords, licensed
the moneylenders. The rent and interest began to be charged with great
rigidity, the police which was used by the English for the recovery were the
sons of the farmers, the army which won the India for British, were also the
sons of the Indian farmer. The condition was worsened by the policy of state acquisition
by Dalhousie, Darul Islam was replaced by Darul Harb, so Wahabi was also
active, but the weapons were with the army and the police, until the Indian
army stood against the British, no effort was successful. That day came 10
May 1857, when the Indian army of Meerut, the Meerut police and Meerut farmers
together confronted the East India Company's government. After all, what
had happened that from a trained soldier to the common man was fighting with
the world's most powerful power. The common farmer tied the shroud with
his head and stood in Meerut with the army of his country and the police.
At that time, there were two Kotwali in Meerut, one was city
Kotwali, second sadar Kotwali. Sadar Kotwali was due to the cantonment which
saw the law system of cantt. Area. From Delhi to Meerut and Saharanpur,
Dehradun, the area between the Ganga and Yamuna rivers was dominated by three
tribe groups Jat, Gujar, Rajput it is even today. These castes were in strong
positions both in Hindu and Muslim religions. Under the name of Eastern
Parganas was the Gujar Princely State ruled by King Jait Singh Nagar had fought
with the Mughals in 1749, as there was no heir, the princes were seized by the
British. The son of last king Natha Singh's uncle’s grandson Rao Kadam Singh
who lived in the capital of the princely state, fort Parikshit Garh near village puthi . He was
looking for a chance to take the princely state from the British rule. Rao
Kadam Singh's three brothers were respectively Dalel Singh, Prithi Singh and
Devi Singh, and their contact was with Nawab of Najibabad of Bijnor Mahmood Khan. Mahmood Khan was related to Bareilly’s
Bakht Khan and Bakht Khan was in contact with Bahadur Shah Zafar in Delhi. Rao Kadam
Singh family kinship was Salagram, the chief of village Panchli located Baghpat
Road. Salagram had seven sons, their names were respectively Chainsukh, Nainsukh,
Hari Singh, Dhan Singh, Mohar Singh, Mairup Singh and Meghraj Singh.Dhan Singh was Salagram's fourth son, born to mother Manbhari on 27 November 1814 Sunday(Samvat 1871kartik poornima)at 6 a.m.Dhan Singh was in police in Meerut's Sadar Kotwali. Rao Kadam Singh wanted
his Garhi in village Sikri near Begamabad (latest Modinagar) and Panchli. Now, when the preparation
of the revolution was going on, bread and Lotus flower were being distributed
to villages as promotion. The date of the revolution was fixed May 31 as
Dhansingh was in the police, he knew that it is difficult to get all the work
done by the revolutionaries, the British intelligence system will not be
sitting on hand with the hand, hence Dhansingh had explained to his ethnic
brothers to near his village upto Sikri that they be ready at all times so that
when called upon they could gather as soon as possible.
On May 10, 1857, in the background of the important role
played by Dhan Singh and his village Panchli’s brothers in the revolution is
hidden the story of British injustice and oppression. Dhan Singh Kotwal
was from a farmer's family. Dhan Singh's father was the head of the
Panchli village, so the British used to punish those villagers who could not
pay the rent due to some reason, in the premises of Dhan Singh.
In the month of April, some time before the Revolution of
1857, an incidence forced Dhansingh to stand against the British. According
to the popular culture in the village the farmers were busy raising their
crops. One day around 10-11 am two British men and one woman waited to rest in
a mango garden near this garden three farmers of village Panchli namely Mangat
Singh, Narpat Singh and Jhajjar Singh were were engaged in agricultural
activities. The British urged them to provide drinking water. There was a
conflict in the grazes. These farmers attacked the British, caught an
Englishman and a mam. An Englishman managed to escape. The farmers
caught the British soldier and tied his hand and feet and put him in hot sand
and forcefully make the mam do threshing .Two hours later, the soldier
shot back with an English officer and 25-30 soldiers. By then, the farmer
who had left the British soldiers, including a sword with golden handle, had
run away. The British handed over the responsibility of investigating the
incident and handed over the responsibility of handing over the guilty to the government
to father of Dhan Singh. It was announced that if the chief did not hand
over the three rebels to the government, then the villagers and the chiefs will
be given the punishment. Many villagers migrated from the village due to
fear.In the end, Narpat Singh and Jhajjad Singh surrendered but Mangatsingh
could not be caught. Both farmers were punished with 30 hunter strikes
each and eviction from the land. Three members of the family of escaped
Mangatsingh were hanged near the village. Dhan Singh's father was
sentenced to six months' rigorous imprisonment for not finding
Mangatsingh. So when the revolution on May 10, Dhansinh Kotwal's father
was also locked in the same jail in Meerut which he broke at night.
On May 8th in Meerut, the soldiers were seized and
imprisoned by the soldiers, who refused to take the cartridges covered by cow
and pig fat. Major General WH Hewitt of the Meerut Division had sentenced these
arrested soldiers to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. Meerut had only
two pedestrian regiments of the native soldiers, while there was a full rifle
battalion and a dragon regiment of white soldiers, the British had complete
control over a good artillery. In this situation, the English were carefree. They were not feeling any danger from
the Indian soldiers in Meerut.
The revolution program in Meerut was made with great
wisdom. The program was as follows that the invasion of the British should
be started immediately after the release of prisoners from jail. When the
British is afraid of the sudden strike then the public shall attack the places
related to all the British in the city under the leadership of the Police of
Meerut. Thereby, the British would not know the center of conflict.
On 10th May, the activities of the Indian soldiers started
with the hours of the church. At 6.30 p.m. Indian soldiers killed Colonel
Finnish, Commanding Officer of the eleventh regiment and Capt MacDonald, who
was in education department of the Twenty-Seven Regiment, was killed and breakout
85 associates from jail.
Kotwal
Dhan Singh Gurjar of Sadar Kotwali was immediately active, he immediately sent
a soldier to his village Panchli which was only five kilometers away from
Kotwali. Sikari village was only 10 kilometers away from
Panchli,Immediately the people who were able to fight were gathered and the
number of thousands reached with Dhansingh Kotwal's brothers in Sadar
Kotwali. Dhansingh Kotwal according to the plan, cleverly ordered the
loyal police personnel of the British government to go inside Kotwali and stay
the same. Following the order, the faithful policemen of the British
remained sitting in Kotwali during the revolutionary incidents. On the
other hand, Dhaningsinh Kotwal gave a secret order to the Indian policemen who
agreed with revolutionary schemes to play a leading role in the revolution. Consequently,
in many places police officers were seen leading the crowd of
revolutionaries. According to the legend prevailing in the villages around
Meerut, this revolutionary mob broke the jail at 2 am in late night under the
leadership of Dhansingh Kotwal and rescued 839 prisoners and set fire to jail. Whatever
was related to the British in Meerut city and Cantt had already been destroyed
by a crowd of revolutionaries. The revolutionary mob burnt all the
establishments related to the British in Meerut, to sabotage the communication
system of British they cut the telegraph line, the English rule was over from
Meerut, there was no British left, the English had either died or were hidden somewhere.
On May 11, when the information about the events of the
incident in Meerut reached around the area, Jat Zamindar Chaudhary Shahmal
Singh of Bijrol village near Baraut, Rajput Thakur of Aklapura near Sardhana
Narpat Singh, Rajput Muslim (Raghad) Kalander Khan of Gadhi village near Barnawa declared himself independent and started charging tax from the area. Rao
Kadam Singh of Fort Parikshit Garh declared himself a king of eastern
paragana.
But since the events of May 10 revolution, there was a major
difference between the activities of the British and the activities of the
Indians, where British activity was very high, while the activities of the
Indians were running in a slow pace. The main reason for this was that the
British had a state-of-the-art communication system. In 1853 only
electronic telegraphs were entered in India. By 1857, the British had
added all the important cities of India through telegraph.
The Agra-out of Meerut - the Delhi route was completely
stopped by the revolutionaries, due to which the connection to Meerut was cut
from other centers. The British started efforts to make arrangements for
their rule. Agra was then the capital of the North-Western
Province. The British were very upset with the collapse of Agra. The
revolutionaries of Nurnagar, Lisadi and Gagol had dissolved the information
system to stop the Bulandshahar-Agra route.
On June 3, the British ordered the Kotwal
of Meerut city, Bishan Singh Yadav, to guide the English army. But Bishan
Singh Yadav had already given the information of the attack to the
revolutionaries of Gagol and deliberately came to the English Force
late. By the time this Force reached Gagol, all the villagers had escaped,
the British set fire to the village. Bishan Singh also escaped to escape
the punishment.
Wahabi Senapati Bakht Khan took the army from Bareily and
headed towards Delhi. In order to prevent the army from reaching Delhi the
British broke the bridge of barrels in GarhMukteshwar. But Rao Kadam Singh
on 27th June arranged boats and crossed the Ganges to the army of Bakht
Khan. Then the then Collector of Meerut, RH Dunlap, wrote to Major General
Hewitt on June 28, 1857, that if we did not take vigorous steps to punish the
enemy and help his supporters, then the area would be out of possession.
Then the British formed a force in Meerut by the name of
Khaki Risala, which included 56 cavalry, 38 foot soldiers and 10
artillery. Apart from these, there were 100 rifle stripe and 60 soldiers
equipped with carbine. The first plan to take action on this force was to take
action on the heart of revolution village Panchali, Nangla, Ghat village,
village of Dhan Singh Kotwal.
Dhan Singh Kotwal was in the police; he was an associate of
Rao Kadam Singh in revolutionary activities, so he also had his information
system, Dhansingh was aware of this attack. He reached his village on the
evening of July 3 itself. Dhansingh told the people of Panchli, Nangla and
Ghat about the attack and immediately advised to flee from the
village. The people of the three villages sat in their bullocks and moved
the relatives of their families, women, children and elderly people to the
relation of the relatives. When Dhan Singh came out of his mansion, he saw
his ethnic brothers sitting beside the Choupal of the village equipped with
weapons, these were the same people who reached Meerut on May 10, at the call
of Dhansingh. Dhan Singh asked them the reason for the stay and gathering
there. On which they replied that we would not leave our village to stay
alive, those who had to go through the village have already gone. You
also go away. Dhan Singh understood the situation that his brothers are in
the mood of Saka(sacrifice). Those who had reached Meerut to fight the
most powerful power of the world on their call, how to leave them today in
death's mouth. Dhansingh took his decision. He made the revolutionaries of
his village fight to fight as much as possible to counter the attack.
On July 4, 1857, Khaki Risale attacked the village
itself. When the English officer saw the preparation of the fight in the
village, he was bewildered. He did not want to fight this long, because
the fear of the British rule was out of the minds of the people, revenue was
not available from anywhere and its main reason was Dhansingh Kotwal and his
village Panchli. Therefore, the entire village was blown away by the
cannon ball. Dhansingh Kotwal's mud mansion was dashed. Heavy firing took
place. Hundreds of people were martyred, of the remaining 46 were enslaved, and
40 of them were hanged. None of the dead were identified. After this
attack, there was no activity of Dhaningsingh Kotwal, perhaps Dhan Singh Kotwal
was also killed in this firing with his brothers. Bowing down his martyrdom.
On 10 May 1857 a committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Major Williams to investigate the role of police in the revolutionary incidents in Meerut. Major Williams made a detailed discussion on the events of May 10 on the basis of different witnesses (Deposits) and prepared a memorandum regarding this. According to which he blamed Dhan Singh Kotwal for the blasts of the public's revolutionary activities in Meerut, he believed that if Dhansingh Kotwal had done his duty for the British cause, then it could have possibly prevented the public from getting aggressive.Dhan Singh Kotwal was convicted for the disintegration of police control. People, repressed by revolutionary incidents, directly accuse their witnesses and said that Dhansingh Kotwal, because he was a self-proclaimed man, did not stop the rebels, in which Gujar was the majority. They also accused Dhansingh of providing open protection to the rebels. According to Depository (testimony) number 66, the revolutionaries said that Dhansingh Kotwal himself called the rebels from the nearby village.
In November 1858, a report was sent to Secretary of North-Western Province (modern Uttar Pradesh) Government in connection with this by Mr.F William, Commissioner of Meerut. According to the report, "The matter of fat fitted cartridges and flour of bones"was spread out in the military camp of Meerut. The report also pointed to the suspicious role of a sadhu (Hindu mystic) from Ayodhya. Indian soldiers, Meerut city police and public and surrounding villagers were in touch with this monk. According to testimony number 8 given to Major Williams, Sadar Kotwal himself had met this monk at his place in Suraj Kund. It may be that it was an official meet, but it can not be ruled out that the two of them were in contact. In fact, the entire police, including Kotwal, had joined the monk (possibly Swami Dayanand) in this plan.
It is the opinion of scholars and historians that there were
three lakh Indian martyred in this revolution that started on 10 May 1857 from
Meerut. Since independence in 1947, there has been a government holiday on
May 10 every year in Meerut, there are programs through governmental and
non-governmental organizations in memory of the revolutionaries. Dhansingh
Kotwal has a lot of respect in the hearts of the citizens of Meerut. In his
name, there is a martyr memorial and statue in the village Panchli. In the
Panchali, Dhan Singh Kotwal circle training center is built. In Chaudhary Charan Singh University is the building of
Dhansingh Kotwal Community Center in Meerut. There is a full statue of DhanSingh
Kotwal standing near Mawana stand in Meerut. The name of a gate at the
Subharti University Meerut is named after Dhansingh Kotwal. Dhansingh
Kotwal High School is built in Juraranpur village in Meerut block of Meerut
district. In Sadar police station of Meerut, the statue of Dhan Singh
Kotwal on July 3, 2018 has been established with the efforts of Mr. Rajesh
Kumar Pandey, Senior Superintendent of Police, Meerut, who was unveiled by Mr.
O.P. Singh, DGP, Uttar Pradesh. The statue of Dhan Singh Kotwal was established
in the Dhansingh Kotwal Community Center in the premises of Chaudhary Charan
Singh University on July 12, 2018, with the efforts of VC Professor Narendra
Taneja of the university. Which was unveiled by Uttar Pradesh Governor
Himam Ramanayake and Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Dinesh Sharma ji.
References:
1.
1857 ki jankranti ke janak dhansingh kotwal –
Dr. Sushil Bhati
2.
1857 ke krantinayak shahid Dhansingh Kotwal ka
samanya jeevan parichay – Tasvir Singh Chaprana
3.
Gagol ka balidan – Dr. Sushil Bhati
4.
UTTAR PRADESH DISTRICT GAJETTEERS MEERUT
-shrimati Esha Basanti Joshi
5.
Krantikariyo ka sartaj Rao Kadam Singh – Dr.
Sushil Bhati
6.
Chetra mein prachalit kivadantiya(popular
legends in society)
